U.S.|Arkansas to Limit Guns at Sports Events After Expanding Concealed-Carry Law

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Arkansas to Limit Guns at Sports Events After Expanding Concealed-Carry Law

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An N.C.A.A. football game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2015.CreditCreditSamantha Baker/Associated Press

By The Associated Press

April 1, 2017

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas lawmakers have sent the governor a measure exempting college sporting events from a new state law that greatly expands where concealed handguns are allowed.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said he planned to sign the bill — which was approved by the State Senate in a 23-7 vote — on Monday. The move comes a little over a week after Mr. Hutchinson approved legislation allowing a person with a concealed handgun license to carry a weapon at colleges, in government buildings and at some bars if they undergo eight hours of active shooter training.

The Southeastern Conference and two of the other major college athletic conferences in the state had urged lawmakers to make the exemption, saying the expanded concealed handgun law raised safety concerns. The University of Arkansas is an SEC school.

Mr. Hutchinson said after the vote that he thought the measure struck the right balance and ensured that college sports events could be gun-free if they had a security plan in place.

“It gives confidence to all the fans that were nervous about this that it’s been remedied, and it’s not going to be a problem, and we can enjoy football games and other sports in Arkansas without any problem,” Mr. Hutchinson said on the syndicated radio show “Sports Talk with Bo Mattingly.”

The exemption measure was opposed by the National Rifle Association, which had backed the expansion of the concealed handgun law. One lawmaker complained that the exemption was being rushed through the Legislature.

“The way this has been handled has been an embarrassment to the SEC. It’s an embarrassment to put the N.R.A. in this situation,” State Senator Bryan King, a Republican who opposed the bill, said before the vote. “It is an embarrassment to put this state in this situation with the way this process has been handled.”

Under the measure, college stadiums like the University of Arkansas’s Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium would be able to designate areas in which they would not want people to carry concealed handguns. To prohibit concealed carry in those areas, school officials would have to put together a security plan for them and submit it to Arkansas State Police for approval.

The bill also prohibits concealed handguns from being brought into public day care centers.

The gun law would take effect Sept. 1, but Arkansas residents probably would not be allowed to carry concealed weapons into the expanded locations until early next year. The law gives state police until January to design the additional training that will be required. More than 220,000 people have concealed handgun licenses in the state.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: College Events Win Exemption From Arkansas Handgun Law. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe